Digimon: Ari Adventures
by Innovia
Summary: Meet Ari, Russell, Iris, Hina, Zed, Taki and Sam as they are chosen to be the new Digidestined of the Digital World! Given a special mission by the Digimon King to prevent a new evil force from conquering the Digiworld and possibly Earth, the seven are to encounter the reality of Digimon and what it truly means to be 'Digidestined'. OCs.
1. 1: Digimail

**1. Digimail**

My soccer team dispersed after it was announced that we had won the game. I let out a largely held breath and wiped the sweat off my brow, walking to the benches near the edge of the field to pick up my messenger bag. I tucked away my water bottle and pulled the strap over my head only to suddenly hear my name called out from a distance.

"Ari!"

I looked over my shoulder to see a boy jogging up to me. He had dark brown hair and a wide smile across his face—our team victory seemed to make him happier than it did me.

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked once he was close enough. I looked behind him to see a few of his friends waiting. I didn't know any of them.

"Home," I said. The boy's face fell slightly. I tried hard to recall his name—he was after all not my friend, but my brother's. Was it Ryan? Rowan?

"I thought maybe you'd come with us to the arcade nearby. We're going to get pizza and celebrate our win. We're off to the grand finals now!" he cheered. I looked away awkwardly.

"I'll go back and tell my brother that then. He's the one on your team, not me. I only played as a substitute because he had a dental appointment." An appointment, might I add, that he had only remembered at the very last moment when Mom came back early from work to pick him up. He didn't have enough time to find a friend to play for him in his game today, so he begged me too. It was a lot of hassle on my part—I planned to stay in today to do a bit of study.

The boy gave me a sad smile. "Well, that'd be cool. The invitation's still there though if you want to come. Otherwise, I'll see you at school."

I frowned. School? Did we go to the same middle school?

"Russell!" a friend of his called. He looked back and laughed.

"Coming!" He gave me once last look up. I grabbed hold of my bag's strand and gave him a small smile.

"See you at school, Russell."

In less than ten minutes, the soccer field had been cleared out.

When I got home, I saw Kane, my older brother, playing video games in his room. I knocked on his door, but the blast of his TV made it unheard, so I entered anyway, stepping over the piles of dirty laundry on the floor. It was only when I collapsed on his bed did Kane realize that I was home. He paused his game.

"Hey," he said. I slid my bag over my head and dumped it onto the floor.

"Hey."

"How was the game?"

"We won."

"Awesome. Did you kick a goal?"

"No."

"Stole the ball?"

"No."

"Get a penalty?"

I sat up from the bed. "I didn't know that you couldn't deflect the ball with your hands!"

Kane laughed. "Didn't Sam tell you the rules beforehand?"

I averted my eyes.

"Who's ... that again?"

Kane put down his controller. "Did you talk to anybody, Ari?"

"I did! I talked to Russell ... for a bit."

Kane sighed. He turned off his game console. "Thanks, then. The guys would have killed me if no one had shown up for me. In return, as promised, I owe you that hat you wanted from down the road."

I jumped up in excitement. "Good! Because I've been eyeing that hat for a while now!" Something Kane said made me remember about Russell's invitation. "Oh, and I should probably mention this as well: the team's celebrating at the local arcade and said you could join them if you want."

Kane's easy face disappeared. His mouth fell, and he started moving about wordlessly.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" he finally said, running to a full-length mirror to check out his teeth. Then he flattened his messy hair and pushed pass me to run out of his room and down the stairs. I followed him in just as much haste.

"Hey!" I called after him as he speedily pulled on his shoes near the front door. "What about my hat?"

Kane jumped up and grabbed his coat. "Sorry, sis. I'll grab that on the way back!"

He was out the door in a flat second. Mom came out from the kitchen with cake mixture all over her. She was so hopeless at baking, but often insisted that the only way to improve was to keep trying. She looked from the door to me, then back to the door.

"What's the rush?" she asked. I rolled my eyes and began climbing the stairs.

"Kane went back on his deal, as always."

"Oh well," Mom said. Then she called: "Ari! There was an envelope for you that came today. Careful when you pick it up, it was bit bulky. I put it on your bed."

I didn't really know what Mom was talking about. I wasn't expecting any mail. I grabbed my bag then went to my room where I saw the yellow envelope as Mom had described on my bed. I closed my room door, the posters I had of my favorite bands shimmering as it shut, and I sat on my bed to grab the mail. It _was_ bulky, as Mom had said, which I found a bit weird. It didn't have a stamp or postmark, so it was most likely hand-delivered, I thought.

I fell back into my pillows, my loose braid finally coming apart. I tore open the letter. With surprise, a small white object fell dead smack onto my face, and with a jolt, I sat upright.

"Ow," I groaned as I rubbed my nose. The object from the envelope had fallen onto my lap, and just from looking at it there, I knew that it must have been something foreign. It looked _very_ technical.

Maybe the object was actually meant for Kane, I thought. He was always buying new games and such. Without further inspection (it was turned off, and no matter what button I pressed, the front screen just wouldn't turn on), I threw it back into the envelope and decided to show it to Kane when he got back. I fished in my bag for a book about Mathematics and got to study.


	2. 2: Digi-what?

**2. Digi-****_what!?_**

I had school the following morning. I somehow managed to sleep in that day and had to rush through my morning ritual, something I absolutely hated. I ran out the door, leaving Kane at the threshold (he went to high school, one that was nearer than my middle school). I shoved my packed lunch into my messenger bag as I ran through the streets. My eye caught for a moment what time my watch displayed, and as only done on mornings of great emergency, I began to jump fences.

I rocked up to my classroom exactly six minutes after the bell. My teacher chastised me for turning up so late and put me on afterschool cleaning duty. I took my punishment meekly and went throughout the whole day with a bad air hanging around me.

When 4 o'clock came, and it was time for me to return to my homeroom to start cleaning, a beeping began from my skirt pocket. I looked inside only to find the weird object that was from the envelope yesterday. When I had asked my brother about whether it was his, he said that it wasn't, and when he tried to identify what the device was, he had no idea. When I asked Mom why she thought it was mine, she simply shrugged and said that Kane had told her that it was mine when she handed it to him. I was left with no detail yesterday about what it was, and so simply I had it placed on my bedside table, sparing it not a further thought.

I tucked it further into my pocket and lingered by the classroom's entrance, waiting for the beeping to stop. When it finally did, I entered.

Russell was standing by the chalkboard, dusters in hand. I was surprised to see him there in the school uniform and not in his soccer wear.

"Hey, Ari," he greeted, moving to the class bin where he began to smack the dusters together. I slowly walked in.

"Hi." I didn't quite know what to say. "So ... I didn't know that we were in the same homeroom class?"

Russell laughed, his bouncy brown hair shaking as he did. "Neither did I! The school year did just start though, so it's only fair that we don't know all of our peers yet."

I walked to where the cleaning closet was and opened it to pull out a broom. I began dusting.

"I always thought that you were as old as my brother," I said. Russell looked shocked.

"Who? Kane? No way. Our soccer team isn't really official, it's more like a neighborhood thing. That's why the referees weren't so strict about letting a girl substitute on a boy's team. That also means that there's no particular age group." Russell finished with the dusters and put them back where they belonged. "We grab whoever wants to play and have it like that," he smiled.

I had dusted a neat pile to a side and was about to go collect the dustpan when Russell beat me to it. As he walked past, I couldn't help but notice a pair of what looked like goggles on his head. My brows met each other as I tried to figure out why he would be wearing them—and to school of all places. Was he wearing them out on the soccer field yesterday?

"Here," he said, holding a hand out to take my broom. I gave it to him. He walked to the small pile and swept it up into the dustpan, having to repeat the action a couple of times as he would miss one or two lines of dust. I tried not to pity him. When he finished, he tossed the remnants into the bin. "You didn't come to the arcade yesterday," he said, handing me back the broom. "Your brother came though. He wouldn't stop telling Sam all about the scary dentist appointment. Did you not feel up to it?"

I looked away guiltily. "Oh, well, I ..." Truth was, I just didn't want to go. I didn't really know the team that well, and besides, Kane would have nagged at me if I did attend. But I would have felt bad if I had told Russell that. "You see ... I ..."

_Beep!_

Noise resounded from my pocket. I looked to my skirt and realized it was the white device again. Embarrassed, I began to apologize, and reached into my pocket to pull it out. I saw Russell's eyes widen as I held it in my palm. I frowned.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Russell didn't seem to hear me over the sound of the beep. Or _beeps_, as I should say, for another beeping sound synced with mine. I looked around, wondering where that second beep was coming from.

_Beep! Beep!_

I looked around and around, until finally, my eyes landed on Russell, who continued to look confuse. He reached into his own pocket and pulled out what I found to my surprise was a matching device, only its color was red, and not white. I took a step back.

"Where did you get that?" I asked. Russell opened his mouth, but before he could answer, white and red light shot into the classroom, momentarily blinding me. The device in my hand began to vibrate and heat up, I noticed, and as the light began to fade, I saw Russell staring at his device too. The classroom began to shake, and I gripped onto the table behind me for support, but that didn't help when a great big massive rip opened up in the classroom and began to pull Russell and me into a fragmented hole. I held on tightly, trying to resist the pull that grew stronger and stronger, but eventually, it grew too overwhelming and I was sucked in, Russell not far behind me.

It was weird at first. The sensation of falling, and then gliding, then falling once again. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was flying through with ease a long tube that looked purely digital and nothing more. It terrified me. A few seconds later, another white light appeared, shining out of another whole. It too had a pull, and it sucked Russell and me in effortlessly.

When I awoke on the other side, it was like I was in a totally different world.

I was lying on the ground, my golden hair sprawled about me. Rising up slowly, I noticed instantly that I was no longer in my classroom, but instead outside, where weird vegetation surrounded me. Green trees with splotches of red and blue; little shrubberies the color of purple. I didn't even think I was in Japan anymore!

"Hello! Anyone out there?"

I turned my dizzy head around. A voice was calling—one that wasn't Russell's. The person it belonged to was close, I knew. So getting to my feet, a lot more troubling than I ever would have thought, I began wandering to where I thought I heard that voice calling from. I was so focused on ducking beneath low branches and making sure that I wasn't stepping through or on anything dangerous, that I hadn't even noticed my new outfit.

"What the ..."

I grabbed the hem of my skirt—a frilly one, I noticed, that looked too cute to be on someone as plain as me. I wore a large scarf and had on a cute blue sweater, and wore black leggings beneath my skirt. It was something you'd see out of a magazine. It was most _definitely_ not my school uniform. I was so freaked out that I even contemplated taking the clothes off ... but my thoughts came to an end there when I heard rustling from some bushes not far away.

I froze.

The bushes began to rustle some more. I was on full alert, the only thing I had was the stupid white device to protect me from a snake or a wild boar. Before I knew it, a little fur ball came bouncing out of the bushes, long ears flapping in the wind. It charged at me, and taking a few terrified steps back, I braced myself for what looked like was going to be a very painful fall.

I was right.

The creature _jumped_ onto me, leaping into my chest and making me tumble backwards. When it had me successfully pin downed, it moved to my face and began to laugh.

Yes. The thing _laughed._

"Hello, friend!" it said. I stared at it, the round ball that had long pointy ears and a purple fluffy tail. I couldn't tell if it was some new breed of animal or something, but the very fact that it had just spoken to me had me shaking out of my shoes!

It stared at me the longer I laid there silent. Then it frowned. "Aren't you going to say hello back?" its squeaky voice pleaded.

I stumbled. "H-h-hello."

The fur ball smiled. "Hello! Hello! Hello!" It bounced on my chest and laughed. I heard another voice call out.

"Hello? If you can hear me, stay where you are!"

It was the voice I first heard. The fur ball continued to stare at me.

"I'm Kyaromon," it introduced itself. It didn't have arms. "You're my friend."

I tried to shake off the numbness that I felt crawling over me.

"Um ... w-where am I?"

Kyaromon grinned. "You're in the Digital World!"

At that moment, through the shrubs, came a boy. As I looked up at him, the blaring sun cut through the shade and blinded me. The boy, I could barely tell, was inspecting me.

"Hello?" he started hesitantly. I tried to block the sun with my eyes. "What are you doing down there?"

I pushed myself up off the ground, watching as Kyaromon bounced to the ground with ease. Then I dusted myself off before taking in my surroundings and the stranger. He was a nice-looking boy with easygoing features and gentle blue eyes. He looked about my age, I thought, with sandy brown hair and a silver pendant around his neck. He sure seemed nice enough as he outstretched his hand to greet me.

"I'm Sam," he said. "You must be the last Digidestined."

I shook his hand out of politeness. "I'm Ari, and I'm not quite sure what's going on at the moment."

As if I wasn't confused enough, a flying robot looking creature flew over the bushes and swiveled around Sam, only to join Kyaromon on the ground. It looked scary. Its fingers were metal claws and it had black horns above its head. Sam hardly gave it a second look.

"You seem to have gotten here just fine," Sam said with a sweet smile. I looked up to him from the two creatures.

"And where is 'here'?" I had to ask again. I heard Kyaromon pout.

"I told you—you're in the Digital World, friend!"

Sam glanced to it. "Wow, you must be Ari's Digimon!" he said, his face suddenly lighting up. I frowned.

"What's a Digimon?"

Sam turned back to me. "You really don't know anything, huh. A Digimon is a Digital Monster—a being made from digital data. Digital data makes up this world too. We're in the Digital World."

I looked about. "How did I get here?"

Sam reached into his pocket and brought out a blue device, exactly same design as the mysterious white device that I had. "Through this. This is the Digidevice, the portal that connects us from the real world to the Digital World."

Kyaromon bounced to my feet. "Here's yours!" it chimed. On its furry back was my _Digidevice_. I picked it up.

"This is ... mine?"

Sam laughed. "Of course it is. You _are_ the Digidestined, right?"

Kyaromon purred. "Of course she is! She's my master!" I glanced to the _Digimon_ and considered it for a moment. Then I shook my head.

"This is crazy. I'm not in some digital world. I need to get back home. Take your pets and leave me alone." I began to turn when Sam caught my arm.

"Ari. I know this is hard to take in, but trust me, I'm telling the truth." He glanced to Kyaromon and to what I assumed was his Digimon. "If you don't believe me, then follow me. There are others here too. I found them before I found you. They're all waiting at an inn not far from here."

I honestly wanted to turn back around and find my way back home, or at least back to _Japan_, but for some reason as I looked down at Kyaromon, I felt that I needed to at least try to believe in what Sam was saying. It couldn't hurt right?

With a sigh, I was defeated. On our walk through the forest all the way to a small wooden inn, Kyaromon was bouncing and singing and cheering. It really was an energetic Digimon.

Sam opened the door for me and I walked in. I didn't really know what to expect. What I found though, was a group of four other kids gathered in one place with more Digimon. Sam walked to the centre. A girl with bright bubbly eyes, long red hair and overalls jumped up and grinned.

"Is this the last one?" she said happily. I gingerly tried to melt into the wall. Sam nodded. The girl ran up to me and cupped my hands, her face lighting up with joy.

"My name's Tariku, but you can call me Taki."

I tried my best to smile back with just as much enthusiasm. "Hi ... Taki."

She giggled in excitement. "This is my Digidevice!" She pulled out a green device and looked at it adoringly. "This thing is my life now ..." Then she gasped and searched around the room. "So is my Wanyamon! Wanyamon is my life now too!" She ran off in search of her _Wanyamon._ Sam returned to my side.

"Don't worry," he said with stifled laughter, "Taki is just as loyal as her Digimon. She was one of the first Digidestined that I found."

"You found?" I wondered.

"I was the first to arrive in the Digital World. In fact, I arrived here two months ago on this day." I found this shocking to believe. Sam laughed at my reaction. "Its really not as bad as you think. The Digiworld has so much too offer, and so do the Digimon. Me and Missimon have grown really close over the two months."

As if on cue, Missimon, Sam's Digimon, flew over and perched on his shoulder. I was frightened at first, but the longer I looked at it, the sillier I felt. These Digimon were harmless. They were friendly, and we were their masters after all, right? They wouldn't attack us ...

I looked around the room. "Was it hard to assemble us ... _Digidestined?_" The foreign world was hard to come to terms with, as were all these Digi-words. Sam gave Missimon a little smile before he flew off.

"Not really. I had help."

I was curious. "From who?"

"The Digimon King."

Sam showed me to where three others sat. They each looked up at me and smiled. "But enough about that," he continued. "First, I should introduce you to the others."

The first one to greet me was a younger boy who was what some girls in my year would call a 'megane'. He had short black hair and wore what closely resembled a very prestigious school uniform near where I lived. I didn't ever bring that up.

"Hi, I'm Zed," he said. The Digimon on the table before him turned to me and inclined its head. "I'm Xiaomon," it squeaked. I could hardly hear it speak. Zed pulled Xiaomon close to him. "Me and Xiaomon first met each other a week ago. Xiaomon's quiet ... especially in comparison to your Digimon." He looked behind me as if to prove a point. Kyaromon was with Missimon and Wanyamon, jumping from stool to stool noisily. Thank goodness the inn was deserted. I turned back beet red.

"I haven't really ... bonded with my Digimon yet."

"I'd get to it soon if I were you," said a girl who sat to the far end. She was petting her Digimon before her, a chick looking one that sparked electricity from its two wiry tales every time it was pet. "If you don't teach your Digimon how to obey you soon, it could get out of control."

Something in her tone made me a little uncomfortable, but I thanked her for the advice anyway. She scoffed. "Don't thank me. Put my words into action."

Sam laughed softly. "That's Iris," he whispered into my ear. "She's a bit of a tough one."

The last girl in the group seemed to be really shy. It was hard trying to get a word out of her. Hina was what her name turned out to be. It was obvious that she wasn't really the social type. She had dark blue hair that seemed to be quite daring and opposite of her personality, but I liked the look on her. It made her pale skin stand out. Once the introductory was over, the six of us found ourselves sitting at the long table while our Digimon were off playing in the corner.

Sam began the group discussion.

"So now that all of the Digidestined are here, we should probably begin to discuss what we're going to do now."

Iris, who still sat at the end of the table, rolled her eyes and kicked her chair back a bit.

"There's nothing _to_ do. We don't even know why we're here."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "That's true ..."

I looked at the other five and began to wonder if something was wrong. I turned to Sam.

"Are you sure that you've gathered all of the Digidestined?" I asked. Everyone turned to Sam. He frowned.

"Yes. The Digimon King told me that there were six of us."

"How would he know?" asked Taki.

"The Digimon King is very powerful. It's said that he has the ability to see into the future. He foresaw six Digidestined fall into the Digital World, me being the first. He made sure it was my mission to find you all." Sam looked at me questioningly. "Why do you ask?"

Now all eyes were turned onto me. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. "Um, well ... it's just that ... when I was sucked into the Digiworld, I was with someone. He also had a Digidevice. It had somehow synced with mine and we both were pulled into the Digital World, only, when I woke up, we were split apart."

Everyone fell silent in thought. Zed was the first to speak.

"Are you sure?" he asked. I nodded my head confidently. If there was one thing I was certain about, it was that Russell was in the Digital World, probably just as lost as I was. Sam took time to consider our next move.

"If what you say Ari is true, then we can't ignore that someone could be out there. Chances are they probably landed somewhere near you. I can go back out there and begin searching."

"I'll come too, of course," I said. I looked to Kyaromon, who caught my eye midair between a jump of stools and came tumbling down. In a second, it was up and moving again. It bounced to my side and had a determined face on.

"I'll follow you wherever you go, master!"

I looked to Sam. He turned to everyone else.

"Anyone else want to join us?"

Taki jumped up, arm raised in the air as if this was elementary school all over again. "Me!" she grinned.

Zed rose as well. "I'll help look too."

Hina stood very quietly. She didn't say a word.

We all then looked to Iris, who seemed strangely focused on patting her Digimon. Sam raised a brow.

"Are you coming too, Iris?"

Iris, regardless of her being older than me, turned around in her seat and jutted out her jaw defiantly.

"This has nothing to do with me," she answered.

I bent over and happily picked up Kyaromon. It snuggled into my arms.

"Let's go then!" it said, and with that, the five of us sought out to find Russell.


End file.
